Background
Wilson, Rowland Bragg was born on August 3, 1930 in Dallas, Texas, United States. Son of Elford Foman and Thelma (Bragg) Wilson.
Wilson, Rowland Bragg was born on August 3, 1930 in Dallas, Texas, United States. Son of Elford Foman and Thelma (Bragg) Wilson.
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University Texas, 1952. Postgraduate, Columbia University, 1954.
His work was usually signed Wilson. Born in Dallas, Texas, the young Wilson was passionate about the funnies and the movies. He was an honors student in liberal arts at the University of Texas, where he drew cartoons for the college humor magazine, Texas Ranger.
A number of those cartoons were reprinted by Dell"s in an ongoing feature, "Varsity Varieties".
This led to a series of caricature covers Wilson did for Wilson did his graduate work in art history at Columbia University. He was an art director with Young & Rubicam and moved to Weston, Connecticut.
Wilson illustrated children"s books including "Tubby and the Lantern" and attracted much attention with his series of cartoons for the New England Life Insurance ad campaign. He also illustrated humorous books, including Steve Allen"s Bigger Than a Breadbox, as well as compiling a book of his own cartoons, "The Whites of Their Eyes".
His gag cartoons were published in Esquire, Playboy, The New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier"s and other magazines.
In the early 1970s, Wilson worked in London for the Richard Williams animation studio. When he returned to the United States, he worked in New York at the Philosophy Kimmelman animation studio, creating two award-winning sequences for "Schoolhouse Rock". After moving to California he was a pre-production concept designer at the Walt Disney studio, working on The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan and Hercules, among others
Wilson lived in Louisiana Costa, California.
At age 74, he died of heart failure at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, California.
Served with Army of the United States, 1954-1956.
Married Elaine Libman, November 21, 1953 (divorced). Children: Amanda, Reed Elizabeth, Kendra Page and Megan Blair (twins). Married Suzanne Lemieux, February 29, 1980.